Archive

MOD treating Kathleen Thompson family with 'contempt'

| 13 November 2018

The family of a Derry mother-of-six, shot dead in her own back garden, says Britain’s Ministry of Defence is treating them – and an inquest into her death - with complete contempt. Even the Coroner hearing the case has expressed deep disappointment at the MoD’s failure to confirm the identities of s...

The PFC will oppose proposals in a report from the Westminster Defence Select Committee which recommends the protection from prosecution of British soldiers and RUC personnel, regardless of the evidence against them. This "Statue of Limitations", while coupled with a "truth recovery mechanism", woul...

Secretary of State's Rules of Engagement in Northern Ireland

Pat Finucane Centre | 24 October 2017

A memo from a private secretary to the Secretary of State in 1975 suggesting that the SoS would like to see '... some form of dispensation permitting the Forces to open fire in an emergency without fear of subsequent legal action.' The author speculates that compensation claims by the relatives of t...

THE British government was aware of large-scale collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries from as early as 1973, according to documents revealed today in the Irish News. The files show Downing Street knew that significant numbers of soldiers were linked to loyalist paramilitaries...

Shock truth of bar killing

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

Thirty years ago a gun and bomb attack on a south Armagh pub killed three people. Now a bereaved relative is establishing the truth of what happened. What he has learned may force a rethink of the history of the Troubles.

UDR came to be seen as carbon copy of Protestant-only B-Specials

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

THE discredited 'B Specials', an exclusively Protestant part-time police reserve, was abolished in 1969 following its role in the violence of that watershed year. In 1970 the Ulster Defence Regiment was formed to replace it and would become the largest regiment in the British army. The UDR was to re...

Terrible legacy of the past

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

Republican violence took a heavy toll on the ranks of the Ulster Defence Regiment. One former member was among those who counted the cost ... MEMORIES of the Troubles revisit Reatha Hassan every night. "I have to take a pill to get to sleep," she says. "I have dreams. There is one where I see someon...

UDR the top source of arms 'for Protestant extremists'

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

The collusion file obtained by The Irish News is made up of several documents, but the most important is a 14-page paper stamped 'secret' and entitled: 'Subversion in the UDR'. This is a detailed summary. The document was compiled by British military intelligence and a covering letter written by a b...

Subversion report 'no surprise'

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

The 'Subversion in the UDR' document is accompanied by four letters of response from very senior officials. And although the document is described as a draft, it is significant that none of the letter writers disagree with its contents. One goes so far as to say he wishes he "could say the contents...